


Away

by morrezela



Series: Werecat Series [1]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Barebacking, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Mates, Mating, Mildly Dubious Consent, Werecats, Werewolf Turning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-16
Updated: 2013-03-16
Packaged: 2017-12-05 10:43:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/722149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morrezela/pseuds/morrezela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jared was twelve, he was turned into a werecat. When Jared was eighteen, he decided that he wanted to go off his suppressants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Away

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: werecats, non-con turning, questionable medical practices, barebacking, dub-con mating of the didn’t know variety, loss of virginity, sad-ish ending.
> 
> A/N: This is my twenty-third fill for my Hurt/Comfort Bingo Card. The square is ‘accidental mating.’
> 
> So once upon a time I had this werewolf fic idea that involved Jared getting turned and being forced to take suppressants. Unrelated to that there was this prompt that circulated on the kink memes that had to do with Jensen being a werecat whose mother kept trying to set him up with other cats, so he went away only to scent neighbor!Jared who was too shy to approach Jensen. (Which I can’t go find right now because I have a very short time left to finish my last two squares.)
> 
> Thrice upon a time, I needed to finish a bingo square, and it hit me that I could combine all three ideas into one. This is that fic.

When Jared was twelve, he was bitten by a mountain lion. His family had decided to go camping over Labor Day weekend. Jared remembered being excited to actually go hiking and sleep out under the stars.

The cat left a raised, fiery trail of scratch marks down Jared’s back from claws that shredded his brand new shirt. He didn’t remember much about the incident itself, repressed trauma he was told. He could’t recall the way that the cat had pinned him face first to the ground and chomped down on his shoulder, puncturing the delicate skin there with long canines. He couldn’t remember his father and brother trying to chase the cat away or the sounds of his mother and sister’s screams.

But he did remember the way that the cat had so calmly stopped and licked Jared’s blood off its claws before loping off into the woods. It had held Jared’s terrified gaze, and he’d been powerless to drop his eyes from those slitted feline pupils until the cat had broken the stare down to disappear into the brush.

Jared’s family never went camping again.

The local hospital had treated it like an animal attack, and Jared made the local news as the authorities warned campers of a potentially dangerous wild cat. He received rabies shots and health instructions for keeping his wounds disinfected.

Two months later, he started to feel sick and stayed home from school. His mother put him on the living room sofa and fed him soup. That afternoon he developed a high fever, and his muscles started to spasm in pain.

He turned into a cat just before supper time.

That night Jared recalled with too much clarity. He was so confused and hurting, his body reporting in about how much it didn’t like his bones and muscles and skin revolting on it. Everything smelled and tasted and sounded different. His mother was shrieking, and his baby sister was wailing and started throwing things at him.

If he focused, he could still feel her tiny fists pounding his skin and demanding that he give ‘Her Jay’ back. And he’d known that she was still little and frightened out of her mind, but didn’t she know that it hurt?

His body was foreign to him, unworldly and wrong. He had only wanted her to stop, but his words came out in a roar and his attempt to gently push her away was done with a heavy, swatting paw and a snap of powerful jaws.

Jared was tranquilized by animal control. He doesn’t have a memory of shifting back into his human form because he was drugged up at the time. He doesn’t really know how his body knew how to shift in the first place, but when he woke up to the sound of his father’s sobbing, Jared was human again.

He made the national news that night, and although he’d never said it, he was still glad that he was a minor. The press couldn’t release his name in conjunction with the unprovoked turning, and Jared wouldn’t have been able to deal with cameras going off in his face all of the time.

The doctors and unscrupulous paparazzi were bad enough. The mainstream press would’ve been unbearable.

But his father and some judicious use of police force kept the tabloids away, so all Jared had to deal with was the fact that he was never going to be normal again.

His specialist, one Dr. Adam Jones, explained in careful detail how Jared would never be able to fully control himself. He wasn’t a born felanoid, and would never have the innate power over his inner beast that the true felanoids had. Jared’s parents were sent home with all sorts of literature on the subject dealing with how even adult humans who chose to be turned and filed all of the consent forms were unable to truly keep themselves in check.

It was a dirty secret that the prides didn’t let the media in on. The born pride members had to keep a constant eye on their turned companions, and that was why a turned human was never seen without his or her ‘mate.’

Jared didn’t have a pride, and at twelve he certainly didn’t have a mate.

Instead what he got was a handful of pills to take every day and a monthly appointment to get shot up with powerful steroids that would keep his feral self from manifesting.

At the time he was relieved. He only had wanted to be himself again, and he didn’t want to feel that horrible sensation of not being in control. Sure he always got some strange looks from the felanoids that he went to school with. They’d stare at him sadly, and the braver ones would try to talk to him. But Jared sort of didn’t want anything to do with them. One of them had ruined his life, and while he couldn’t be a separatist, he spent many a night wishing that he could be.

Puberty sucked, but not in the normal way that it did for all pubescent boys. No, puberty sucked because Jared just didn’t get it. Sure his body grew and formed, but erections were a chore, and he just didn’t see what was so great about his flesh deciding that it could get hard. He could care less about girls or boys or anything.

He knew it was his hormone control and steroids and everything else interfering with his bodily functions, and he resented it to no end, but every time that he thought that he might just try to drop his dosages, every time he brought it up with Dr. Jones, the man would have that very serious discussion with him that ended up with Jared feeling two inches tall and taking his drugs like a good cat.

Senior year came and went, and the most remarkable thing that happened to Jared was becoming valedictorian. He wasn’t shocked. It wasn’t like he could join sports or chase girls like the other boys did. The rules kept him from being able to compete in sports even though his body was slightly stunted in muscle growth, and it could hardly be called a medical advantage. His libido could give a flying squirrel about making out with another person – felanoid or human. So he studied and spent time in the library and ended up with an almost perfect GPA. Ironically his hardest subject was gym because he had to make muscles without all of the testosterone that his male counterparts had.

It was college that got Jared into trouble. He still received his shots and took his medications and studied like a bandit. That wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that Jared got a girlfriend. He was lonely, and she was sweet. They talked, and Jared thought that he fell in love with her, so he told her about himself. He talked about why they’d never had sex, and how his body just wasn’t going to be normal. He mentioned that any kids they might have would have the potential to become werecats, and that he could accidentally turn her into a monster if he didn’t keep his mouth to himself, and Meredith loved him anyway.

His parents were thrilled. In their eyes, Jared could see the hint of relief that they felt at hearing that their son was going to be taken care of and nurtured. His soon-to-be in-laws loved him because he treated their little girl like a lady, and his grades spoke for themselves. He had a brilliant future ahead of him, so even at eighteen, both families had given their blessing when Jared proposed.

The only person that wasn’t happy with Jared’s decision was Jared.

It was just that the older he got, the more discontent he became with his life. There was this itch under his skin that never went away, and this desperate hunger that welled up inside of him whenever he got to the end of his cycle of hormone pills.

And it might have been selfish of him, but Jared wanted to know what it was like to actually desire another person. He wanted to crave kisses and touches and experience lust. Just because one day he would be old and grey and not able to get it up anymore, that didn’t mean that he should have to spend his whole life like that.

He stared at himself in the mirror at the end of his freshman year at college, and he just wanted to know what it would be like to not have drugs and medical controls over his body. He knew that his thinking was crazy, knew that only crazy people went off their meds because they thought that they didn’t need them anymore, but he just kept toying with the idea over and over again.

Jared was supposed to catch a plane the night of his last final. His parents had sent him the money to buy the ticket because they figured he was an adult and should start making his own travel plans especially as he was soon to be a married man.

Jared bought a clunker of a car, filled it up with all of his possessions and took off to go camping for a week. He figured it would be his last fling before settling down. It wasn’t like he had the balls to appreciate a stripper like any other guy would at his bachelor party.

At first his only plan was to take off into the forest alone and explore nature for a bit. He drove to a campsite and paid the fee and then hiked as far away from civilization as possible so that he didn’t accidentally maul anyone once he came down off his drugs.

What Jared learned was that drug addicts stayed addicts for a reason. He maybe wasn’t so smart about getting off his medications because cold turkey after all those years of being on heavy duty crap? Yeah, he felt like he was going to die. He probably almost did die. The chills and sweat and vomiting were nothing compared to the hallucinations. And sure, he’d known that he’d been on some anti-psychotics to help control his more feral impulses, but he hadn’t ever thought about how they worked by screwing with his brain chemistry.

When Jared finally woke up after passing out in his own bodily fluids, he was a cat again.

He dragged his furry assed self to a river bank and lapped up the water like some housecat and even though he felt horrible and smelled worse, he also felt free for the first time in ages. He felt right, comfortable and even though he had sworn that this was just going to be his own private rebellion before he went back home and settled down, deep down Jared knew that he wasn’t going back.

Five days later he figured out the whole shifting thing and went back to his car. He headed north instead of south and buried his pills in the bottom of a duffle bag.

Life didn’t magically become easy. Jared hadn’t expected it would, but like most college kids, he’d never had to rough it on his on before. He didn’t have a pride to go run to like any other felanoid, and he couldn’t bring himself to call his parents.

They would want him to get back on his drugs. They would never believe him if he told them he was fine. And Jared didn’t even want to think about what his fiancée was going to say or do.

He drove until he was almost out of gas and decided to settle in the town that he was closest to when his needle started hovering right above empty. The town was small but friendly, and soon enough Jared was working four jobs and living in a top floor apartment.

It should’ve been stressful, but it was relaxing in a way. If he’d had more free time, Jared would’ve spent it worrying about his future or cataloguing his every change, worrying that he was going to all of a sudden shift and eat somebody’s kid for breakfast.

He felt guilty and free at the same time, and work helped him to power past those feelings because a guy couldn’t wait tables or deliver baked goods or work the gas station nightshift or sell shoes if he wasn’t paying attention.

Coincidentally, the shoe salesman job was the best decision Jared ever made. Even though he was only a part-time employee, he still received his employee discount. This was great because apparently in addition to keeping his muscles from completely filling out, his felanoid suppressants had also stunted his growth by about five inches.

Jared went from tall to super tall, and the money that he’d been thinking of saving went to buy shirts and shoes and socks that would cover his now gangly body. For a while he actually felt like some slinky alley cat with the way that his skin just stretched out over his frame.

And if growing was a mild shock, then his sex drive was like a sneak attack. Out of nowhere he started noticing how good people smelled and looked and, yeah, it was embarrassing.

Also? Jared figured that maybe it was a good thing that he hadn’t gotten hitched because his libido was definitely skewing a little too much in the male direction for heterosexuality to be a given.

It was all manageable though. It was great right up to the point that his landlord finally leased the other upstairs apartment to one Mr. J. Ackles.

Jared had been raised to be friendly and courteous and polite. He’d had every intention of going over and introducing himself to Mr. Ackles, but that idea had flown out the very window that Jared espied his new neighbor through.

J. Ackles was gorgeous. He was just pretty and masculine and muscular and svelt and just perfect. Jared’s newly sensitive hearing could pick out the rumbling, dulcet tones that the guy spoke in, and popping wood for some stranger was just not cool.

There was no way that Jared could actually manage to speak with his neighbor without embarrassing the both of them.

He just admired from afar like the creepy stalker that he suddenly became. It was crazy and a little weird, but Jared figured that he wasn’t hurting anyone.

Jensen, he learned the guy’s first name through the town gossips that hung out in the diner, was just passing through town. He was there on some sort of ‘family business,’ though the old biddies at the gas station said that he always said it with a funny sort of smile on his face. They said that a man that fetching had to be up to no good.

Jared couldn’t say one way or the other, but he knew for certain that Jensen was very ‘fetching.’ More often than not, Jared would catch himself staring at Jensen from his view through his apartment window while the other man walked to or from his SUV. Jensen’s parking spot was exactly ten spots away from Jared’s beater, but even with that amount of distance between the vehicles the differences were obvious. Jensen’s SUV was new and pristine. Jared’s wasn’t and that was as far as he ever took the comparison.

It wasn’t like idle fancy would make them compatible anyway. Jared was not only a felanoid, but a young, turned male - one without a pride. He was hardly a catch even to the most needy of men. A guy like Jensen Ackles didn’t need to be scraping the bottom of the dating barrel.

Besides even if Jensen was interested in Jared, the whole taller thing could be a turn off in and of itself. Guys like Jensen probably weren’t going to be interested in losing in the height department.

Jared would be lying if he didn’t feel a little bit of remorse at the thought of how he’d thrown away being loved when he’d left his fiancée, but even looking at Jensen made him feel more than he’d ever felt for Meredith. If the price for being himself was being lonely, well he guessed that wasn’t so bad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were few things missing from Jensen’s life. According to his mother, a mate was on that list.

Ever since he’d turned twenty-one, she’d been on him to go find a good beta cat and settle down. As he had aged past that fateful year, she began to worry more and more. The available betas in his father’s pride started getting younger and younger, and not a one of them piqued Jensen’s interest.

As much as he told his mother that he wasn’t worried, Jensen actually was a bit concerned. Felanoids, or werecats as the humans sometimes called them, mated early and for life. It boggled the mind of many a human because they were so used to the promiscuity of their pet housecats, and Jensen sometimes wondered if humans were just plain dense on purpose.

But whenever he did wonder that, he remembered that his argument to a human was always that he was more human than feline which would meant that he was more idiot than not.

After a while, his mother started setting him up with available betas from other prides. It was embarrassing. Worse it was intolerable. Jensen was a dominant cat to begin with, and having his own mother try to arrange his mating was unbearable.

Eventually he couldn’t take it any longer and packed his bags, intent on staying away until she got the notion out of her head that she needed to set him up with some fresh scented beta cat.

If the smile on her face was anything to go by, she had planned for him to leave. But by the point that Jensen thought of that possibility, he already had half of his stuff out in his SUV. There was no going back from that without serious injury to his pride – and not the one comprised of several different cats.

Jensen had picked the town he settled in at random. He closed his eyes, pointed at a map and landed on the Rand McNally logo. So he pulled out his computer and used a random number generator to pick a road and how many miles to drive on it.

Sometimes technology ruled.

When he arrived in the dinky little suburb, he hadn’t been expecting much. He figured he’d hang around for a while, do a little networking and check out the local artisans for the gallery that he’d started. It was just a hobby, but Jensen had been born into big business, and he wasn’t about to drop cash into something when it could be dropping cash to him instead.

In order to make a gallery successful, he had to get some art worth selling first, and sometimes the best artwork was made by people who weren’t famous and high on the hog of positive reviews. Maybe it wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be emotional, and Jensen had learned that was far more saleable than most high concept pieces.

What Jensen didn’t count on was the smell.

Everywhere that he went, it was like the air itself welcomed him. Warm and spicy and just the faintest bit sweet, it invaded places like the local gas station and the awful, greasy spoon diner. He swore that he smelled it in the hallways of his apartment and ended up buying a pair of running shoes that he didn’t need because they were scented just right.

Jensen wasn’t stupid, he was just really confused. It was the scent of a beta, a very nice smelling one at that, but there were no prides around to speak of, and when he’d hinted at ‘werecats’ to a local sculptor, the man had told him that there hadn’t been one living in town for over ten years.

Then, of course, he’d assured Jensen that even though it wasn’t collectable pride art, his sculptures were just as good as werecat art, and he’d be sure to fill up a quota of any of the styles that Jensen liked.

And no, it wasn’t as collectable, but it was different, and Jensen already had a very steady stream of werecat art coming in from his own pride, so he signed a contract with the sculptor and left a very happy, formerly starving artist behind.

Knowing that it was up to him to find out which resident was the owner of that delicious scent, Jensen very carefully began to stalk out the places that the aroma was the strongest, but to no avail. Even when he came into a strong concentration of it, he could never find the source. It was like the other cat was avoiding him for some reason.

And sure, Jensen could have acted like a crazy man and demanded to know who was just there from the locals, but he figured that it wouldn’t earn him any favor points with his sweet scented beta cat. It was clear to him that his beta was fond of the hunt. Jensen generally thought the game to be outdated and silly, but there were still prides that believed that any alpha cat worth his salt should be able to chase down a beta’s scent and perform his claim.

It sucked, and Jensen was going to have to sit down with his beta and discuss philosophical standpoints after they were mated, but if chasing was going to be what he needed to do, then chasing it would be.

He was sitting in his apartment, drawing on his map of the city and planning out his hunt when the doorbell rang. Peeking through the peephole only gave him a nice view of a very tall man’s plaid shirt, but as he cracked the door open, he was assaulted with that perfect beta scent, and all bets were off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jared was officially nuts. It seemed like everywhere he went, Jensen was sure to follow. He felt like he was Mary, and Jensen was his little lamb. His very sexy super muscular lamb, but still a lamb. The more he saw Jensen, the more he wanted to cuddle him, so it worked.

He spent a lot of time dodging into backrooms and closets and that one time under a counter. Jensen made his body do really, really strange things, and it was humiliating to have his pants stretch out so obviously in a public place.

There were countless hours that Jared spent bemoaning the fact that he hadn’t gone through puberty like a normal person because not being able to look at his really hot neighbor without popping a boner was a very serious problem to have at almost nineteen years old.

Then there was the whole teenage insecurity to get through. He figured that wasn’t so bad though. After all college age was supposed to be when you experimented and stuff, right? He was supposed to be all uncertain and awkward, so he could give himself a little break.

He worried and fretted and hid like a scared rabbit until one day fate smiled upon him in the form of the apartment manager giving Jared one of Jensen’s packages by mistake.

Jared didn’t realize it at first, or he would’ve just given it back. But he’d been juggling his grocery bags when Stan had handed him his packages, and he’d been expecting some pre-owned shirts that he’d won a bid for on eBay, so he didn’t realize that it wasn’t his stuff until he got up to his apartment.

Sure he could go all the way back downstairs and give the package back to Stan, but Jensen was just down the hall from Jared. It would be the neighborly thing to do to just go over and drop the package off. Jensen’s SUV was in its assigned parking spot, and Jared had heard some faint movements earlier, so Jensen had to be in.

And it was the perfect opportunity for a quick, introductory chat.

Magical wood popping risk was at a minimum, or as minimalized as it was going to get. Having a cardboard box between you and your secret fantasy was sure to tamper down the hormones, right?

Jared wasn’t sure if he believed himself, but he really wanted to meet Jensen. His skin was crawling with the need to do it, and he had learned that his skin seemed to have some sort of sixth sense, so he might as well follow it.

That didn’t mean that he didn’t change into his baggiest jeans and a long tailed shirt before going over to knock on Jensen’s door.

It seemed like it took Jensen forever to answer, and that was very bad for Jared’s imagination because he kept thinking about what could be keeping Jensen, and all his mind kept telling him was that for sure Jensen had been jacking off. Jared was forming the opinion that the main reason that hormones existed was to lower the world’s collective IQ, because he was certain that his maturity level was far higher before he went off his drugs.

“Hi,” Jared blurted out as soon as Jensen swung the door open.

Jensen’s nose twitched, and his eyes looked dilated. For a split second, Jared’s heart sank because it kind of looked like maybe Jensen had been doing drugs. Then Jared wasn’t thinking at all because Jensen’s fists were in his shirt, and he was getting pulled across the threshold of Jensen’s door, and Jensen’s tongue somehow ended up in his mouth.

The cardboard box got smashed between their bodies, but Jared found it difficult to care. He felt like he couldn’t focus on anything beyond when the next swipe of Jensen’s tongue was going to stroke across his own.

Jensen’s apartment smelled absolutely fantastic, and even as Jared thought that, Jensen moaned. Jared’s brain skipped from scent to sound and started informing him of how awesome Jensen’s voice was.

From there things got a little blurry. Jared felt like everything was happening at once, and the only things that he could make himself care about was getting naked and pleasing Jensen. Thankfully these two objectives seemed to be compatible with each other because Jared was very certain his dick was going to explode if it didn’t get free from the confines of clothing and get to rub against Jensen’s perfect abs.

They didn’t talk, and for some reason that didn’t bother Jared. He knew that it should given that he was about to lose his virginity to a guy he had said exactly one word to, but he couldn’t bring himself to do anything but roll over and crawl up onto his hands and knees once Jensen shoved him down onto the bed.

There was a lot of keening and moaning and something that sounded suspiciously like a yowl when Jensen finally, finally shoved inside, but Jared didn’t bother worrying about that until after he’d finally come, and Jensen had shot his own load inside of Jared and collapsed on top of him.

As Jared’s afterglow started to subside, his brain started coming back online. The first thing he realized was that he’d just hooked up with a complete stranger, and he’d let the guy bareback him. The second thing he realized was that Jensen was licking the back of his neck and purring.

“You going to tell me your name?” Jensen rumbled between licks.

“Uh, umm, Jared,” Jared answered as he tried to shift. It was a bad idea because his dick was starting to perk up again, and the motion didn’t do anything to keep his hormones from building.

Jensen chuckled against the back of Jared’s neck and nipped him. “Such a pretty mate,” he purred as he ran his hands down Jared’s arms and linked their fingers together when he reached the end of his trail.

“Umm, mate?” Jared asked.

“Jensen,” Jensen corrected has he pulled his cock out of Jared’s ass and rolled him over. “God, you’re young,” he said when his very green eyes lit on Jared’s face. “Momma is going to have my hide when I bring you home.”

“Your mother?” Jared repeated. This wasn’t normal for a hookup, was it? You don’t have sex with a random hot guy and then take him home to your mother, did you? Wasn’t that what they called clingy and needy or something?

“Mmm,” Jensen rumbled as he started purring again. “She’ll be thrilled that I finally mated even if it is to a traditionalist.”

“Uh, yeah,” Jared said. Logically he should’ve given Jensen the brushoff as soon as he started in with the crazy talk, but even though Jared’s mind said that, his entire body seemed to be completely content to let Jensen lick and rub at it in a clearly possessive manner.

“I’m hoping that you’re open to some changes. My pride is very adoptive of more modern practices,” Jensen told him. “I can’t be dominant to you all of the time, but we can maybe work something out at home so you’re more comfortable with it? I don’t want you to be unhappy.”

“What?” Jared shrieked as he pulled himself away from Jensen. He couldn’t roll far. Even though his brain was voting for getting away from the psycho he was in bed with, his body was very insistent on staying where it was at and maybe going for another round.

“Jared, mate,” Jensen soothed as he followed Jared across the mattress, “don’t be angry with me. I’m a good alpha, a good provider. I’m just not into being domineering. Don’t be upset; I’ll work on whatever you need. I promise.”

“Dude!” Jared exclaimed as he finally got control over his legs and launched himself from the bed. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Jensen looked a little pissed, and he rolled sinuously off the bed and onto his feet to stand next to Jared. The whole action said ‘cat,’ and Jared kicked himself for not figuring it out earlier like say, when the guy started purring.

“You’re a werecat,” Jared blurted out stupidly.

Jensen halted his advance and honest to God hissed. “Look, I told you that I’ll work on it. I don’t know what else you want me to say. If our mating wasn’t good enough for you, you could just say you need it harder or rougher or whatever it is that’s bothering you. You don’t need to insult me.”

“No, I mean, you’re a werecat,” Jared said again like it would somehow impart the enormity of the situation to Jensen.

“Were you hit on the head recently?” Jensen asked, crossing his arms across his chest and squinting at Jared.

“What? No, man. I just… I didn’t realize you were, you know,” Jared made a stupid gesture at the top of his head that mimicked cat ears. He felt absolutely ridiculous, especially because they were both naked and Jensen’s come was still dripping out of his ass, but it couldn’t be helped.

“You didn’t realize I was a felanoid?” Jensen sounded downright insulted now.

“Don’t take it personally,” Jared hastened to assure him. “I just don’t have a lot of experience with this, okay?”

“Nobody has a lot of experience mating, Jared. That’s why it’s mating,” Jensen said it as if Jared was a particularly brain damaged kitten. Jared figured that he’d be insulted if he actually had a clue about felanoid culture.

“No, look,” Jared said as he presented his back to Jensen again, displaying his bite scar and scratch marks.

“I am NOT being that rough with you. I refuse. I don’t care what kind of environment you’re used to,” Jensen stated.

Jared felt his eyebrows rise, and he turned back around to stare at Jensen. “Dude, I’m not some abused kitty cat, okay?”

“It doesn’t look that way to me,” Jensen said flatly.

“I was turned,” Jared told him.

It was very satisfying seeing Jensen’s eyes widen to the extent that they did. “Turned?” he croaked as he stumbled backwards to sit down on the rumpled sheets of his bed.

“Yeah, so I don’t have a clue about whatever it is that you’re trying to say.”

“But you’re unclaimed,” Jensen said.

“Again, I don’t even know what that means,” Jared pointed out.

“The one who bit you didn’t take you as his mate afterwards? Why?” Jensen asked.

“Well, I was twelve, and he was kind of wandering the woods, and my parents were there, so I guess maybe he wasn’t a pedophile? Actually, I’m not even sure if it was a ‘he.’ I didn’t exactly get a look at its altogethers, you know? But the main thing is that I don’t know a whole lot about felanoid culture, so talk to me like I’m human, alright?”

“You were twelve?” Jensen sounded scandalized, and Jared didn’t blame him.

“Um, yeah. You might’ve heard of it on the news?”

“But you… there were supposed to be outreach programs for you. The prides discussed it with the human officials, and they said they would get you help.”

“Well, I mean, I didn’t really need it all that much with the suppressants.”

“Suppressants?” Jensen echoed.

“Yeah to keep the ‘rawr’ from coming out, you know? But,” Jared hastened to add, “you don’t need to worry. I’m good, honest. I’m thinking that maybe it was a maturity thing because I haven’t tried to attack a human at all. I’ve been really good at going out in the woods to shift, and… why are you looking at me like that?”

Jensen’s face was a weird mixture of angry and grief stricken, but he stood again and walked over to Jared. He reached up and cupped Jared’s face in his hands and stroked his thumbs over Jared’s cheekbones.

“My poor mate,” he murmured.

“Um, okay the mate thing,” Jared started, confused again.

Jensen’s eyes widened once more, and he yanked his hands down guilt flashing in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought that you were baiting me for a hunt. I didn’t mean to… can you forgive me?”

“For sex?” Jared asked dumbly.

“No, Jared,” Jensen said gently, “you’re my mate now. We mate for life. Your body is going to reject any other advances made on it.”

“What?” Jared squeaked. He wanted to deny it, call Jensen crazy and storm back to his own apartment, locking the door behind him, but Jensen’s words made too much sense.

Jared’s body was practically yearning to lean into Jensen’s touch, and thinking about having even a door between them right now made his guts turn.

“Fuck,” Jared muttered, tears of frustration coming to his eyes.

“Hey,” Jensen soothed, “I told you that I’m a good alpha. I won’t hurt you, and I’ll get you through this, okay? I’ll call my momma, and we’ll pack up and head home to Dallas. Everything is going to be fine, Jared. I promise.”

Jared shook his head in denial, but when Jensen leaned forward to pull him close, he didn’t resist the hug. Instead he buried his head against Jensen’s shoulder and sobbed, missing his parents and his security and the normal human life he’d never had.

Jared seriously wished that he’d never gone camping.


End file.
